The plans that have emerged show what Russian President Vladimir Putin might intend to do if there is an uprising against him at home.
“Putin is very afraid that he is not a fully legitimate leader of Russia,” says Michael Kimmage, a former US State Department official who specializes in Russia and Ukraine policy. “Knowing that his legitimacy is not fully assured by the elections, he will seek to maximize his personal security through a complex of well-defended private residences.” Consistent with this statement, secret plans have emerged that are investigating Putin’s lavish luxury villa on the Black Sea. With some surprises.
Plans show a gigantic bunker under the magnificent villa. Where above ground the property has a church, wine cellar and casino, two large tunnels extend underground. According to expert Michael Kimmage, if there is a split in Russia or an uprising against the government, Putin can, at worst, hide in his bunker for days or even weeks. The residence on the Black Sea would by no means be the only possible retreat.
The property includes three houses, a cable car and a missile defense system.
He could last weeks here
The newly lit multi-billion dollar residence also features a shisha bar with a stripper pole. New research from “Business Insider” shows that the property wasn’t just planned for the “Dolce Vita”. These revealed that the Kremlin chief had also made worst-case scenario preparations at his extravagant palace in Russia’s Krasnodar region. As per plans by the now-defunct Russian construction company Metrostil, Putin had two complex tunnels built under the facility.
These documents first appeared online in early 2010 and were visible until at least 2016. With the Wayback Machine, a platform that regularly creates snapshots of homepages, it is still possible to view the floor plans of the bunker facilities. The tunnels are well fortified and equipped with everything necessary for survival, including adequate water supply, ventilation and an extensive network of cables. With such equipment, Putin and his chosen potential guests could last for days or even weeks.
An explosion-proof space
The palace and its underground facilities are connected by an elevator about 50 meters deep. The two tunnels are on different levels, with an upper and a lower tunnel. They are approximately 40 and 60 meters long and six meters wide and offer around 6,500 square meters of potentially explosion-proof space. The tunnel exits are visible just below the palace complex on the bare rock rising from the beach. The 16 cable ducts built into the lower tunnel wall are particularly impressive.
Each channel is about 30 centimeters wide and designed to house cables for power transmission, lighting, copper wires and fiber optic cables needed for a command post – so Putin could undoubtedly maintain command of the bunker. The Moscow company, which now owns Metro Style, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov have not officially commented on the bunkers. “This tunnel system offers all kinds of security and protection. There’s a fire system. There’s water, there’s sewage. It’s designed so that someone can survive or escape,” says Thaddeus Gabryszewski, an expert in defense systems.
Rfi navigation account, time 20 minutes 05/20/2023, 19:28 | Act: 05/20/2023, 7:33 pm